May 31, 2008

Shakespeare and me...

My new room-mate is a classicist. She loves classics of all sorts, whether it be movies, books or plays. So obviously she is a big time fan of William Shakespeare. And hence we have movie based on his plays as "A midsummer nights dream" and "Much ado about nothing".

As far as I am concerned, I do like Shakespeare. I have read quite a lot of his work in school but until now all those 'thou', 'thee', 'hast' had been a little difficult to get over. But watching those movies and later a play (again 'A midsummer nights dream' by Stanford Shakespeare group), I have actually started getting over all those little hung ups. I am now thinking of borrowing few Shakespeare classics for the summer and read them. I think it will be an interesting summer for me!

Anyway, I was searching for a friend's quote when I found this nice little poem attributed to Shakespeare:

Every one that flatters thee
Is no friend in misery.
Words are easy, like the wind;
Faithful friends are hard to find:
Every man will be thy friend
Whilst thou hast wherewith to spend;
But if store of crowns be scant,
No man will supply thy want.
If that one be prodigal,
Bountiful they will him call,
And with such-like flattering,
'Pity but he were a king;'
If he be addict to vice,
Quickly him they will entice;
If to women he be bent,
They have at commandement:
But if Fortune once do frown,
Then farewell his great renown
They that fawn'd on him before
Use his company no more.
He that is thy friend indeed,
He will help thee in thy need:
If thou sorrow, he will weep;
If thou wake, he cannot sleep;
Thus of every grief in heart
He with thee doth bear a part.
These are certain signs to know
Faithful friend from flattering foe.

Hit Me...

..that was the motto of my instructors in today's class. Ok, let me start from beginning. I am due for blue belt test pretty soon. So on Wednesday class I had my prog-check (progress check) done by one of the most vicious, energetic and respected black belt. His feedback was that I am holding back and don't give it my best shot, which translated into layman language means that I don't hit rookies (the volunteer attackers for my test) hard enough even though I have potential to. I have had a past record of hitting people pretty hard when they ask for it (honestly they "Ask for it"..they ask me to hit them harder so I do). So today was my day of hitting brown and black belts hard and on targets!

Honestly, it was fun for me even though those poor guys went double with pain and came back with the feedback that that was really good: on the target and pretty strong as it should be. I did feel guilty to hurt them but oddly enough it was very satisfying to be in control of your attacker and actually hitting them. Its such a big confidence booster! No one dares mess with me now!!

May 29, 2008

Weekly Free Food Research

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the results of my "Free Food Research" of this week in the previous post.

We have a free food event today evening. Best part: Indian dinner will be served. I have to sit through a townhall meeting for that. It should last 45 mins.

We have a lunch tomorrow combined with a presentation which will be an hour long and completely out of my research topic but whatever. I am getting free lunch even though it will be completely unhealthy food.

We have a department opening party tomorrow evening where I would have to socialize with people (yeah actual people..not like virtual people on the internet! ).

And then we have an end-of-year Stanford Martial Art Program Banquet on Sunday night where again I have to make small talks and socialize.

See what all you need to do to get to that free food part. But as they say, there are no free lunches in the world!

Negative Zone

You know how 95% of time you love the recreational sport you play and 5% of time you hate it.
How 90% of time you love your friends and 10% of time you just want to be left alone!
How 80% of time you love your work and 20% of time you don't.
How 70% of time you love yourself and you spend 30% of your time thinking how stupid you are.
How 60% of time you love the food you cooked and 40% of time you don't even care.
How 50% of time you love your country and rest of the time you can't stop complaining about it.

And did you ever wonder why timing for all these negative zones happen to coincide with each other? Oh well. Whatever. I am in those negative zones today. I hate approximately everything at the moment. I probably should carry a sign saying:

"
Approach With Caution"

The weather isn't helping either. Its murky, partly cloudy, slightly chilly outside. Hate this weather too.

Anyway, I should go now and not whine anymore. You guys have a good day. I bet it will be better than mine anyways...

Annoyingly Organized

I hate people who are overly organized and expect rest of us to do the same. And it becomes worse when they want the advisor to follow it too. Does the whole world have to follow their schedule just because they are organized?

Ok, I admit it: I like being organized to some extent and it drives me crazy when I am not. I don't like being late for an appointment either. I don't like keep anyone waiting but I don't mind waiting myself. I don't interfere with other people's schedule or write them mails with accusatory tones. You know the mails that you would expect to get from a lawyer with point-wise descriptions. The subsections (a) and (b) will add up to the conclusion they made in the end with the accusation.

But then it takes all sort of people to make up this world. So have to deal with them too...

Project Snapshot #26

Yesterday's shot is from famous Stanford Quad. I just came out of office when 5:02 alarm went off. So here is the shot:


Date: May 28, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Quad

May 28, 2008

New rules

In order to recover from my long weekend disastrous adventure, namely shopping, I have come up with an ingenious plan. I am fixing my weekly allowance at $40. So every week I am going to withdraw $40 from ATM and that's all I get to spend for the entire week. This will exclude my transportation cost, which is now fixed at $40 per month. I have already got $40 worth of quarters from bank for that. One time bus-ride fare is $1.75. I can use my car only on weekends when in-campus buses don't run. For any other expenses, I would need permission from higher authority, namely me.

I am a strict parent, am I not? Hey you need to discipline yourself once in a while. Hopefully I wouldn't have a run-in with higher authority too often. I don't want to start hating myself. :)

P.S.: BTW, for people unfamiliar with a grad student's life, this is called the conservation mode. This is the time in life of a grad student when he/she practically start living on free food available anywhere on the campus. I am browsing the grad events bulletin for this week's free food events! Concept of healthy food has gone out of window at the moment. Eat what you get free, is the new principle of life.

Unbelievable

I always considered myself as an introvert. A person with very few friends. Its overwhelming for me to realize that I have 129 friends on Orkut and 104 friends on Facebook. There is some overlap, I agree, but still I actually know and socialize with 200 people! And not all of the people I socialize with are on Orkut or Facebook. Most of my very good friends refuse to be on either of the sites...and still I have approx 200 friends! Though I wouldn't call them "friends" per say, they are more of acquaintance than friends but still it's absolutely stunning to realize that I actually know 200 people!

I will be back once I recover from this shock...

May 27, 2008

Project Snapshot #25

Its Lake Lagunita again. I was running when the alarm went off. I was at a very different location than my favorite spots of taking pictures of Lagunita so I had to stop and look around. But then its Lake Lagunita, my favorite location to take picture so there is always something there to take picture.

Sometimes, you pass the same location everyday without realizing what a good photo opportunity that location present. Same happened to me today. I go for a run around lake Lagunita and never took notice of this fence. When I had to stop today for 5:02 shot right in front of this fence, I noticed it for the first time. Took a lot of shot but this one remains my favorite for today. You got to love the blue sky..

Date: May 27, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Fenced

May 26, 2008

The Drive..

So the drive can be very calming. The road I took is described here (in Stanford) by few as 'God's own road'. I know there are many, much more scenic routes in the world but I love Interstate 280. Its a highway that connect San Jose to San Francisco.

The mountains, the clouds and sunset can be very interesting combination while driving through this route. I took quiet a few detours before turning back. One of those detours took me to a Chinese graveyard spread over a small hill. The sunset colors made it look almost like a postcard. I did have my D-SLR in the car (fortunately!) but I didn't stop to take picture. Few things are better as a memory than a picture. May be some day I will go back there and shoot some pictures, but not today.

The second detour took me to Crystal Spring reservoir trail. You can see this trail while driving on Interstate 280 and it look as beautiful from there too (you have obviously seen the picture below by now). Anyway, this time I took out the camera and took some pictures. Simply couldn't resist. What I couldn't capture here were the silent, chilly yet calm wind, the chirping of cricket, the sound of creek running somewhere near by in the woods which couldn't be seen, the soft slashing of waves, the noise among the woods and then a quick glimpse of a deer. In simplest term, the sound of nature and silence. But here are few shots that I could capture...

The first look...


The Sunset..


Some time later..


The deer


The trail


The second look


Approaching Night


That ends my day and this mini-trilogy. Tomorrow I start work again. With $700 less in my account, it sounds far more depressing. But nevertheless, life goes on. Something lost means something gained. I lost $700 and gained a closet full of clothes which I will use in next few years. After all, formals and classics never go out of style...

The back row..

So as I was saying, rather writing, in my previous post: I went to a movie today evening. The movie was 'Made of Honor'. Yeah I know there is an Indiana Jones movie running in the theaters too and still I went for a chick-flick or as a friend of mine calls it, a rom-com (for Romantic-Comedy). I wanted to see the Scottish Highlands. Initially I thought they will never show the Scotland but the later part of movie was shot in Scotland, and man is Scotland picturesque! Just picture perfect! It was simply amazing. The movie is ok too. Its similar to My Best Friend's Wedding'. Actually same story except its a happy ending, quite predictably. At times, all those 'Happy Ever-Afters' just cheese me off. You know, it never happens in real life. At least I haven't heard of any!

Anyways, thats beside the point. Today I realized something about the back row of a movie theater. I usually prefer sitting in the center of the back row. I didn't know that is supposed to be 'loner (cough *loser* cough) row'. People who have company occupy the front rows while people like me who "prefer" to watch the movie alone occupies the back row. It was interesting to realize that I belong to this category. Not that I care. But it was still interesting.

Oh well ok, I do care. If I don;t whine here where would I? As if over-spending the money wasn't enough, I had to get this label today to make it worse....So when I came out of the theater, I took my car and went for a long drive (approximately 80 miles...3 hours). More details about that one coming up next...

Project Snapshot #22, #23 and #24

It was a long weekend here and a busy weekend for me. What did I do, you ask? I spent $700 in two days and got myself an entire new wardrobe. Well, an entire new formals at least. Not as much of casuals.

The company I am going to work for is giving $3000 lump-sum for relocation. So I allocated approx. $500 for buying few new clothes for the job. But as it was Memorial day weekend, they had sales in all the stores. I got formal suits worth $200 in $80 and hence I ended up buying more. I hate sales. Anyways, with $700 I now have 3 skirt suits, 1 pant suit, 6 new tops, two sweaters, a capri and a skirt. Honestly, it was pretty good deal if you ask me!!

Anyway, why I am telling you this. You don't need details of my wardrobe. The point here was that that's the reason I disappeared. So I am back. And here are shots for past three days...

Ok the first shot is obvious. I was in the store. Squandering my hard earned money on these stupid clothes.


Date: May 24, 2008
Location: Cupertino, CA
Titled: Sales

This shot was taken wile I was talking to a good friend and was completely distracted. I shot the first thing I saw which was accidentally my window with its blinds half way open. I know its a stupid shot but as promised, here it is...


Date: May 25, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Blinds

So what did I do after I spent all that money? I went and watched a movie. This is today's shot at movie theater. Ok I need to discuss this one in detail..so another post is coming up. Stay tuned.

Date: May 26, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled: The Big Screen

May 23, 2008

I HATE...

THE GOLDEN BOY.



(from: Ph.D. Comics)


P.S.: 1. I guess no point explaining which category I belong to...but then as my friend always put it: we are idiots among the geniuses so for the rest of the world we are still GENIUS!! :)

2. (In reference to the previous point) Thats the only way you can survive in an Ivy league without THERAPY. Seriously. Though I think that inferiority complex might require few years of therapy. Alas! The Ivy League. Further you are from it, better you are!

Project Snapshot #21


Date: May 23, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled:Baby Pink

Wish this would have been clearer. Though I had my D-SLR at that time and I have a better picture but that doesn't belong here. Anyway, meet Caitlynn: 10 days old of my very good friend who happened to drop by in the office today.

Project Snap shot #20

As the oil prices sore up along with everything else, I have decided to stop driving and make use of public transport instead. It seems a better deal in most ways, except for one: Waiting for bus. Especially with US of A's Public transport system, I need to start at least half an hour early so that if I miss a bus, I can still reach office on time. Anyway, here is yesterday's shot...


Date: May 22, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Waiting

May 22, 2008

Project Snapshot #19

Ok. I agree, out of place things bothers me. I keep wondering why they are there for. For example, this piece of pipe in middle of ground for apparently no reason. Its a safety hazard to say the least. Its hard to spot and presents a likely chance of getting you tripped. Bt I can't find any reason or rhyme for it being there. Anyway, thats today's pic...


Date: May 21, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Protruding

May 20, 2008

Project Snapshot #18

Facebook status of the nerdy friend:

Tacky tuesday #409: "To iterate is human, to recurse, *divine*



Date: May 20, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Iteration

May 19, 2008

Project Snapshot #17

My office, I was walking out of office as alarm went off. Here is the view of that moment...


Date: May 19th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Lines

I know how to...

...SPELL AND PRONOUNCE MY NAME, Thank you very much!! Arrrgghh....


(from: Ph.D. Comics)

P.S.: This week's comic strips are so much applicable to my life that I had to put them here!!

My past few weeks...

..so accurately described by, who else, the legendary Jorge Cham.


(from: Ph.D. Comics)

Project Snapshot # 16


Date: May 18th, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled: Absolute Darkness

Guess what was I doing last evening. Yep watching a movie: Chronicles of Narnia- Prince Caspian. I went in the alley to take the picture. I was so embarrassed when my mobile's alarm went off in middle of the movie. But since I promised to take the picture so here it is.

BTW, the movie is worth watching, i.e., if you like the Chronicles. You now know next set of books on my reading list. Yep, the Chronicles.

I have heard a lot of criticism about the books: about it being sexist, racist and too close to theological concepts. But it was true for His Dark Materials trilogy written by Philip Pullman (one of the critics) to some extent. And then the series was written in 1950s when it was natural for author to have such a mind set. If we start criticizing authors that way, then I guess Shakespeare, Jane Austen and the rest will be next to criticized. And then lets not forget about Oscar Wilde, my favorite writer, who was a known misogynist and he is still one of the most revered author. So I am taking the risk and starting the series soon enough. After all, this summer I will be in middle of no where with nothing to do. At least I can catch up with my reading which I have been ignoring, just like my blogging, for past month or so. Anyway, I will keep you updated!

Imaginary Friend



Yeah yeah, another nerdy joke. But honestly it happened to my imaginary friend too! No one else could see her :(

May 18, 2008

Someone else says...

I would thank you from the bottom of my heart, but for you my heart has no bottom.

Someone says..

Be cautious of Cupid, Listen well to this verse,
To be kissed by a fool is stupid, To be fooled by a kiss is worse.

P.S.: I can't rhyme even this badly. I can't be blamed for your suffering. I just wrote what I read somewhere..

May 16, 2008

Project Snapshot #12, #13, #14 and #15

..are finally here. Between more deadlines, annual-reviews, a baby being born, I neglected the blog for past few days. Now first thing first. Here are last four days of Project Snapshot. I slept through 5:02 on 17th. I was too tired. So no shot for 17th.

Regarding the pictures here, most of them were taken in Stanford except the last one which is a view from my kitchen window.

The first picture is a snap shot of my office computer. I was working on my Annual review presentation when alarm went off. I was actually working on my laptop and the computer had screen saver on. The screen saver on my computer is slide-show of few selected pictures I took. This one is Lake Lagunita sun-set picture I took three years back.


Date: May 13th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Peeking in

The second one is a shot of campus. We have these patches of woods everywhere in the campus. This particular day I was walking towards Lake Lagunita for my run when the alarm went off.


Date: May 14th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Woods

This one is the basement entrance for our department. The heat wave had been at its best on this particular day. I was talking to a friend on phone here when the alarm went off. You can see Pepsi vending machine inside.


Date: May 15th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Reflections

I was cooking this particular day when alarm went off. This is view from my kitchen window. I had to leave for a play later in the evening, so I was home early cooking for a potluck lunch next day.

Date: May 16th, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled: Looking through blinds

May 13, 2008

Procrastination heights..

..I guess thats where I am right now. After weeks of deadlines after deadlines, overnighters and a lot of work, I have finally reached a stage where I can't work anymore. Seriously, its like my mind is on strike. I have a meeting at 3 and I can't make myself work. I have my Annual Review this Friday, I can't work. The Google Earth Project I was working on, is finally getting out of the shadows and will be presented as a homework assignment for extra credits to bunch of undergrads, still can't work!

I just attended a presentation wondering whether I should take a diet coke from free food table after the presentation (as it turns out they didn't have any beverages....welcome to the horrors of Grad Life!!). Didn't listen to a single word he said. Only thing I can tell you about the presentation is that it was something to do with earthquakes in Turkish plate. The reason I remember Turkey is because it took me a while to understand the map he was showing. Once I figured out Turkey in it, my attention went back to the diet coke.

Anyway, two hours remaining for the meeting. I better try to do something now. Can't go to a meeting and tell them I haven't done anything!

May 12, 2008

Project Snapshot #11

I was walking out of a meeting when it happened! And I realize the how perfect is this time, people actually leave from work around this time. So here is the picture of one of the biker, getting his bike up for the ride home! People with expensive bikes (like yours truly), like to keep their bike in the office instead of outside to save it from weather and thieves.


Date: May 12th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Maze

Ok I am off to Karate class now...see you tomorrow..

May 11, 2008

Project Snapshot #10


Date: May 11th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Rows

Guess where I was at 5:02? You got it, Library. Yes, on a Sunday. Hey, I work six days a week and since I didn't yesterday, I had to today. So I was reading this paper in the latest 'Geophysics' Journal when all of sudden my cell phone started vibrating (yes, I do have decency to turn the mobile in silent mood when I am in library). I picked it up and said hello but it turned out to be my alarm. Chop.

And that wasn't the only embarrassing moment of today. I came back to my office and started searching for my keys to go outside (the office doors are locked on weekends). Oh yeah, I know you are smart enough to guess that I lost my keys. I searched my laptop bag, my camera bag, my normal bag, my lunch bag (don't ask how many bags I had with me..numerous), I searched my drawers, my table-up and down, my shelves but no luck. I went to all the places I have been to today, which weren't many.

The only thing remained was the recycling bin (thankfully PAPER recycling bin). I have had a lot of print-out of the drafts of papers I had to submit last week. So my desk was cluttered with paper. That was the first thing I did today when I reached office. Cleaned up my desk and dump the papers in the recycle bin. Now since I had looked everywhere twice, it was the only possibility. So I went to the recycling bin and opened and viola, the bin, which was completely empty in the morning, was completely full with cardboard boxes (you are not supposed to dump cardboard boxes in paper recycling bin!). Anyway, I started emptying the bin, one box at the time which, I should add were, very heavy for some reason. And by the end of it I had to topple the bin to reach the bottom. And there it was lying at the bottom, MY KEYS!

I started putting everything back in the bin, thanking my stars for today being Sunday and I don't have to explain anyone about my absent mindedness. But I thought too soon. Just as I was putting the last of the boxes, a prof happened to leave for the day. He stopped obviously asking me, what am I doing. I had to tell him about it adding that when I took out my papers, it was empty and now someone has put these cardboard boxes (I was still upset about someone putting cardboard boxes in paper recycle). And he smiled and said, "Not anyone, but me." "Ohh." (Thankfully I didn't went on about cardboard boxes in paper recycle). But still it was a very awkward moment. I didn't know what to say!

Well that was my day. I am off to home...enough for a day, I say!

Project Snapshot # 9

Yesterday's Pic... I wasn't in a very good mood, as you can tell by the picture. Its my window again with green frog's head(stuffed toy) at the bottom. As you can see, I just finished my duty and didn't even try to compose the shot.


Date: May 10, 2008
Location:Mountain View, CA
Titled: Lines

Someday....(reloaded)..

If I ever took up professional photography and start earning well with a studio of my own, I would love to own this baby..



Yes, its a Still-photography camera and it costs $33,995.00. The name is Hasselblad H3DII-39. Its a medium format Digital-SLR with effective resolution of 39 MP. Its supposed to be the world's best DSLR.

I know most of you have no idea about medium-format photography. Its just a difference between the size of film used in the camera (usually known as film format). And the way it affect us is the size of print you can get from that film. Well, honestly, it depends other factors as film speed, type of film, zoom level of shot, lighting, subject still or moving and how much in focus is shot. As far as I know, 11X14" or 11X17" (A3) is the largest print with 35 mm camera. But if you want to print a poster of the pictures you have taken, you need more resolution and hence a bigger film size. And medium-format cameras provide that.

Well, in essence, the details and resolution captured by a medium-format camera are just amazing. Even the normal medium-format camera (the film one) is so much better than any D-SLR and this baby is a MEDIUM FORMAT D-SLR. I will be happy to just hold it once...

And if none of this happens, then at least I will buy a film medium format camera, someday....

P.S.: 1. For Part I of Someday... click here.

2. My "Wish-list" makes me wonder if I need to leave Grad school and start working...but may be I will need to own an oil company to be able to own everything in that. I have a very expensive taste, I guess ;) .

May 10, 2008

Project Snapshot # 8

View from my front door...


Date: May 9th, 2008
Location:Mountain View, CA
Titled: Framed

May 8, 2008

Project Snapshot #7

Today the alarm went off when I was trying to avoid crossing path with my advisor. I was traversing through trees and bushes when it started ringing and I took this shot. Its some kind of cactus, thats all I know. And I know that because I saw it in cactus garden in Stanford campus.
Anyway, I thought the texture it made was cool and it looks cooler in B&W. What say you?


Date: May 8th, 2008
Location: Stanford, CA
Titled: Tentacles

Geeks

I considered myself one but finally found someone more geeky than me. A new friend on Facebook who keeps updating her status with the geekiest jokes ever. Her last three status were:

Status #1:
Joke #293: Your Mom is like a struct. She's got no class!

Status #2:
Joke #283: A neutron walks into a bar and orders a drink. Upon being asked the price, the bartender responded, "For you? No charge.".

Status #3:

Joke #307: Heisenberg was driving when he got pulled over by a cop. The cop walks up and asks, "Do you know how fast you were going?". He answered, "No, but I know exactly where I am!"

Seriously these were her status. But honestly I do love to read them. They are cute little jokes. Yeah, yeah I know I am a geek too but at least I don't announce it so publicly!

P.S.: 1. For those who don't know about Heisenberg's uncertainty principle, it states, in simplest terms, its impossible to know the velocity and position of a particle at exactly same time. Note its applicable for atomic particles like electrons. Its a quantum physics... just FYI.

2. I am not sure if I understand the exact difference between geeks, nerds and dorks..so pardon me if I have used wrong term. I frequently use them interchangeably.

May 7, 2008

I am brain dead at the moment...

____/\__________/\__________/\_________/\____
________/\__________/\__________/\__________
__/\__________/\__________/\____________/\___
_/\__________/\__________/\_________/\_______
/\__________/\__________
/\_____________/\____


But my heart goes on and on...

P.S.: Bad pun, I know but I am too sleepy to come up with anything sensible...

Project Snapshot #5

Today's shot. Neighbor's backyard. Can't write anymore..


Date: May 7, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled:
Green

My laptop has fever..

...seriously. Poor girl has been pretty warm for past few hours now. She has started breathing very heavily now and there are some other weird noises coming out from her. She has been working for past 50 hours now. She is crying out for a break. She has been very brave though. She let me finish my papers. So I am very proud of her. Now I will let her sleep for few hours at least. And even I am off to sleep. Have been awake for 22 hours now and sitting for past 19 hours (with few very small breaks). My poor back is crying too, not to mention my eyes who have started watering now with the strain.

I hope I will get up in time for 5:02 shot. Otherwise a blank, completely shot will be appropriate to tell you my state at 5:02 PM today. :)

May 6, 2008

Main Aur Mera Laptop.

Well as I have been telling at every available moment that I am very busy and currently on a dead line of 24 hours to submit two papers. So when the 5:02 alarm went off today, guess where I was? Right. Working on my laptop. But somehow, the most innovative idea (at least I think this was pretty creative!) strikes when you are looking for ways to procrastinate. So here is my, once in blue moon, brilliant idea. I took a shot of the keyboard of my laptop and downloaded it on the laptop. Opened the picture in Picasa and then took this picture..Cool, isn't it? Seems to give an effect of reflection on the laptop screen.

Okay now back to work..


Date: May 6th, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled: Two Two :)

Where am I?

After 15 hours of sleeping while ignoring the pending work, I am finally awake or am I? I am not sure. You know the stage between being asleep and being awake...I am somewhere in that limbo, I think. The Earth doesn't seem very stationary at the moment. I wonder if I need to sleep more or eat more or just have a bit more caffeine. To top it, I got a reminder that I am already late in submitting my paper. I have time till tomorrow evening. Next 24 hours are going to be very interesting. Stay tuned for more...

P.S.: I have decided to go for caffeine and some junk food. Hope it helps.

May 5, 2008

Project Snap Shot: Day 4

I was pulling in my drive way when my 5:02 alarm went off. I didn't take the pic immediately but after parking my car. I actually took quite a few picture. I guess, this series isn't exactly the snap shot of the moment 5:02 but yeah a snap shot of my location in that half hour. At times I even set up the shot, like yesterday's shot.

Anyway, so this one I liked best as it describes today's day to: Nice, warm and sunny. Just a lovely day.


Date: May 5th, 2008
Location: Mountain View, CA
Titled:Welcome

Twitter. Twitter.

Question: What happens if you pull all-nighter after all-nighters for nights in row?

Answer: You loose track of time like yours truly who mailed a prof apologizing profusely for missing the meeting last Thursday, only to get reply from a very confused prof saying, 'But we did meet. Last Thursday. In my office. And we will be meeting again this Thursday, if thats ok with you.'

PS: 1. Bet he is wondering whether I was mentally there for the meeting at all.
2. Incidentally, how do you reply back to such email? Apologize again? But then you wouldn't have any idea, would you? Only rare specimens like me can commit such an act.

Twittering yet again...

Question: Why are you twittering so much?

Answer: Imagine someone who takes two days to finish a bottle of coke and have her drink 1.5 liters of coke in less than 24 hours! Effects are self-explicable. Tweet. Tweet. Chirp. Chirp.

Twittering again..

Question: How was Paris?

Answer: Beautiful. Its wine mecca of the world. Its a paradise for artists. Its the fashion capital of the world. And its the ASHTRAY of the world. I wonder if I already have lung cancer. I was there for THREE days, afterall.

Twittering...



If you are wondering, yep this is a photoshopped image and so is this one:



But they both make a good laugh..Somebody has good sense of humor as well as good photo-shop talent!

Just Twittering..

Programmers are tools for turning caffeine into code.

May 4, 2008

Project SnapShot #3

I am at home today. Working. I have a paper submission tomorrow and my advisor has come back with quite a few things that needs to be done so working on it. But still took a break and took the shot for today. Just something looking out of my window. I actually took couple of shots and decided on putting this one up. I am still getting adjusted to using a 2MP camera phone in which I don't have any control except for changing white balance. I need to adjust my distance so that the shot is not out of focus. So I usually take more than one shot. Anyway, today's shot..


Date: May 4th, 2008
Location: Home, Mountain View, CA
Titled: Looking out

P.S.: Yeah, Yeah, I know. Windows need cleaning. Hey I didn't sleep last night. Prospects aren't looking too bright tonight either. You think I have time for cleaning? Live with it..

May 3, 2008

Project Snapshot: Terrible Twos

Today I was in Walmart (Super Store) when the alarm went off. This is the best shot I can come up with. I had to sneak off to a corner with no one around to take the shot. I felt very uncomfortable doing that in front of everyone. Some how taking picture from a phone-camera feels very devious, especially in a public place like Walmart. Hence this picture isn't the snapshot at exactly 5:02 PM today but 2 minutes later when I finally found a place where I can click without feeling awkward. :)


Date: May 3rd, 2008
Location: Walmart, Mountain View, CA
Titled: War and Peace

May 2, 2008

Project SnapShot: Day Uno

So as I mentioned earlier, I have a new cell phone! No correction, I have a new cell phone with a lot of cool features, including a 2MP camera. And since, unlike in past, I have been carrying my cell phone ALL THE TIME, I thought it will be cool to start this new photography project.

The idea isn't mine. A lot of photographer have done something similar, including a friend of mine who had been taking a picture of whatever he doing at 7 PM every evening using his phone-camera. I am planning to do the same every evening, but the time I choose is 5:02 PM (oh well, that was the time I took today's picture so ':02' stays) but unlike him, I am planning to post my picture here. I am not promise that I will post a picture everyday but I will certainly try. I have to travel a bit this year and I am not sure how much access to internet I will have then (and yes I am aware of mobile blogging feature of Blogger.com).

Anyways, so here is today's picture taken at 5:02 PM. I was starting my run around Lake Lagunita when I took this picture and thought about working on this project. It was a bit murky and hence the picture came out as if taken with Sepia effect.


Date: May 2nd, 2008
Location: Lake Lagunita, Stanford, CA
Titled: The Arch

Why am I dong this (Among other side effects of being a Ph.d. student, I feel obligated to define a purpose, a methodology and some anticipated results for any activity.)? Well just a snap shot of my daily life and the way it varies from day to day at a specific time of day. I choose the evening time so that I don't end up taking pictures of my office computer or my kitchen, day after day. Hopefully I will be somewhere different once in a while during that time.

I have always said that camera is just a tool to take picture. Owning a better camera doesn't necessarily makes you a better photographer. But as they say it, its easier to preach than to practice. So I am putting myself on trial here. Lets see if I can prove this point. Taking picture with my 2MP camera phone everyday, at whatever place I am and then: BE CREATIVE! Hmmm... That will be challenging. I am restricting myself in more than one way. It will be interesting.

Anyway, you will see the results and judge for yourself.

P.S.: One of the glitch in this project is downloading the photo everyday. I can be a bit lazy about that. Please bear with me if I slack a bit. :) . I will ultimately download and post them.

And they say I am heartless...

Facebook has so many weird questionnaires. You can easily spend hours on that site taking quizzes. Anyway, today I was procrastinating, as usual and hence took few quizzes. One of them was titled:

"What is LOVE to you?"

with the description saying:

You have unique insights on the definition of love. Find out what love means to you at this moment. The answer changes as you do. Do you want to know the meaning of love?

And guess what my definition of "Love" at the moment is:

[To your loved one] "I seem to have loved you in numberless forms, numberless times, in life after life, in age after age forever."

Hahahahaha Hehehehe Hawhahwhahaw ...........

I know you must be wondering what questions I answered for them to drive such a profound conclusion about me. The quiz had four questions with four options each.

Question #1 : What is your mood today?
Happy/Content/Excited
Down/Sad/Discouraged
Anxious/On edge
Idle/Neutral

Question #2 : What are you most anxious about?
Money
Family
Death
None of the above

Question #3 : How do you feel about the future?
Hopeful
Anxious
Indifferent
Prepared

Question #4 : What did you dream about last night?
I don't remember
Weird disjointed thoughts
Past experiences and people
Prepared

Do you see any connection between these questions and the statement they made? I don't. But then its stupid of me to try and find logic in these quizzes. Anyway, its lunch time, FINALLY. So I am off..

May 1, 2008

Punctuation matters...

Out of all the examples for correct use of punctuation, I guess this is the best:

Without punctuation:

A woman without her man is nothing

Punctuated sentence 1:

A woman, without her man, is nothing.

Punctuated sentence 2:

A woman: without her, man is nothing.

Don't ask me which one is correct. I am not a feminist but I am not that humble Bahrtiya nari either. So, as far as I am concerned, both of them are incorrect. You can have your pick!